Carriage decelerator for tabulation and carriage return operation

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for decelerating a typewriter carriage at the end of a tabulation or carriage return operation. A one-way spring clutch is operable to drive a centrifugal governor when conditioned by either a tabulation linkage or a carriage return linkage.

United States Patent lhns W. Mueller Cortland, N.Y.

Nov. 17. 1969 July 27, 1971 SCM Corporation Continuation of application Ser. No. 618,689, Feb. 27, 1967, now abandoned.

Inventor Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee CARRIAGE DECELERA'IOR FOR TABULATION AND CARRIAGE RETURN OPERATION 5 Claims, 3 Drawing Figs.

U.S. CL. 197/64, 197/183 Int. CL B4lj 19/02 Fieldolsearch ..197/64, 183

I f as [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,753,195 4/1930 Bache et a1. 197/64 2,209,512 7/1940 Crosman 197/183 X 2,826,287 3/1958 Dodge 197/183 2,829,754 4/1958 Norcross 197/64 2,854,124 9/1958 Dodge et al. 197/183 2,879,879 3/1959 Dodge 197/183 2,926,769 3/1960 Toeppen 197/183 X 3,048,255 8/1962 lsraelson 197/183 3,288,260 1 l/ 1966 Sargent 197/64 Primary Examiner-Emest T. Wright, Jr. Attorney-Milton M. Wolson ABSTRACT: An apparatus for decelerating a typewriter carriage at the end of a tabulation or carriage return operation. A one-way spring clutch is operable to drive a centrifugal governor when conditioned by either a tabulation linkage or a carr'iage return linkage.

PATENTEU JUL2'! um SHEET 1 OF 2 ATTORNEY PATENTED mznem 3, 595. 360

snm 2 OF 2 //VI//V7'0R HANS W. MUELLE R ATTORNEY parts being shown in section;

CARRIAGE DECELERATOR FOR TAB ULATION AND A A CARRIAGE RETURN OPERATION This application is a continuing application of prior U.S. Pat. application, Ser. No. 618,689 (now abandoned) which was filed on Feb. 27, 1967, and in which the named inventive entities were-Carl P. Anderson and myself, Hans W. Mueller.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to typewriter carriage retarders and more particularly to thetype which decelerates the carriage through use of a centrifugal governor.

The closest known prior art is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.

- for decelerating the carriage at the end of a tabulation operacal construction.

SUMMARY OFTHE INVENTION 1 i The main object of this invention is to provide a carriage decelerating mechanism which employs a single clutching means between the tabulating linkage and the carriage return linkage and the centrifugal governor. The tabula'ting and cari BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF rue DRAWING F IGJl is a partially exploded rear perspectiveview of the present inventionin a normal unactuated position, some of the FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view of the tabulator decelerator control linkage just prior to being actuated by ap'reset tabulatorstop; and

FIG. 3 is a rear perspective view of the carriage return decelerator control linkage just prior to being actuated by the carriage left margin stop. 1 A

TABULATION SPEED CONTROL l6,'extendspartially through the opposite end of the clutch member 22 and abuts the end of drum gear hub 20. The clutch member 22 is keyed to the tape hub 24 by way of two clutch member lugs 26 that extend into matching slots 28 in the shouldered portion of tape hub 24. The lugs 26 and slots 28 are of such a length that the clutch member 22 may be moved laterally'toward the drum gear 14 without disturbing its keyed relationship with the tape hub 24 At the leftmost end of the clutch member 22 there are circularly arranged teeth 30 provided for engaging a pair of tooth abutrnents 32 located on the adjacent face of the drum gear 14 when the clutch member 22 is moved laterally to the left.

This is accomplished by a tab button responsive bifurcated member 34 wherein the bifurcations 36 act within a peripheral groove 38 in clutch member 22. Member 34 is slideably mounted on a rigid shaft 40 and is biased by a spring 42 to normally render the clutch member 22 disengaged from the drum gearl4. Hence, the tape hub 24 and the drum gear l4are normally independently rotatable with respect to each other.

The tape hub 24 carries a tape drum 44 which is conventionally connected to the machine carriage (not shown) by a tape 46 and is biased clockwise by a spring motor 48. Thus, anytime the carriage is released from its conventional escapement mechanism, it will be direction (right in the figures).

Upon a tabulation actuation, member 34 is drivento the left effecting engagement of the clutch member 22 and the drum gear tooth abutments 32 at'substantially the same time that the carriage is released from its escapement mechanism. As

the tape drum 44 is driven clockwise by spring motor 48, the

drum gear 14 is rotated clockwise. The rotation of the drum gear 14 through pinion 12, controls the operation of the governor 10 and it can be seen that the governor 10 centrifugally acts to limit the speed of the carriage as it travels through its tabulation run by creating a braking force which is proportional to the speed of the carriage. The governor locomprises a housing 11 which contains two rotatable discs 13 having similar configurations. The discs 13 are normally biased 1 toward each other by spring 15. As discs 13 are caused to be rotated by pinion 12; the centrifugal forces acting on the discs 13 overcome the force of biasing spring 15 and the discs 13 are urged radially outwardly intofrictional engagementwith inner surface 17 of housing 11.

TABULATION DECELERATION Decelerating the carriage through the last portion of a tabulation operation, which is in the letter feed direction, will now be described. A tabulator counterstop link 50, best shown in FIG. 2, is pivotally mounted at its right end to a tab bellcrank 52 by a shouldered stud 53 and supported at the other end about a pin 54 which is rigid on a-counterstop actuator 56 and tabulator counterstop link 50 has been pivoted slightly counterclockwise about its right end by the actuator 56. The actuator' 56 which is biased counterclockwise about a frame mounted shaft 58 by a spring 60, is pivoted by the spring 60 when the tabulator bar (not shown) is depressed and a positioning finger 62 is pulled byalink 64 in response to depression of the'tabulator bar. This positions the counterstop abutment 68 into the'la teral path of any preset tab stop 66 on the carriage mounted tab rack 70.

When the tab stop 66 contacts the abutment 68, it drives the counterstop link 50 to the right guided at the left end by pin 54 in elongated slot 51 and the tab bellcrank 52 'is' pivoted clockwise about its pivot at 72. Bellcrank 52 is connected to an adjuster link 55 with a screw 57 extending through an elongated slot 59in bellcrank 52 for adjusting link 55 relative to bellcrank 52. Adjuster link 55 is pivotally connected to a tab link 74 by a shouldered stud 61. The clockwise movement of bellcrank 52, through adjuster link 55, drives tab link 74 downward. The tab link 74 is pivotally connected at its lower end to a tab plate 76 by a shouldered stud 77. Plate 76 is pivotally mounted on shaft 16 andhas a rigid inwardly extending hub 79 (FIG. 1) that frictionally engages several coils of a one way spring clutch 78. The remaining coils of spring clutch 78 frictionally engage the drumgear hub 20 so that the tab link 74 moves downward, the downward motion of tab link 74 is transferred to drum gear 14 and the drum gear 14 is rotated clockwise at a faster rate than its normal tab run governing rate. The connecting stud 77 on plate 76 is normally oriented to the right of the vertical tangential path of rotation of stud 77 as indicated by line'A-A. The downward movement of link 74 drives the stud 77 of plate 76 in a path indicated by are C-C toward the bottom horizontal tangential line as indicated powered in the letter feed direction of carriage travel so as to pivot a bellcrank 84 about pivot 87 which reengages the conventional carriage escapement and finger 62 pivots about pivot 89 to move actuator 56 clockwise in response to the tabulator bar and its associated linkage (not shown) restoring to its nonactuated position. Release lever 82 is biased counterclockwise about shaft 85 by spring 91 and bellcrank 84 is biased about shaft 87 by spring 93.

CARRIAGE RETURN DECELERATION Decelerating the carriage through the last portion of a carriage return operation will now be described.

Referring to FIG. 3, a carriage margin rack 86 is shown equipped with a conventional adjustable margin stop 88. It should be understood that during a carriage return opei'ation, the margin rack 86 travels as an integral part of the carriage in the direction of the arrow. The margin stop 88 is equipped with a lug 90 which is positioned for contacting a frame mounted abutment 92 toward the end of the carriage return travel. The abutment 92 is rigidly mounted on a control shaft 94 which is slideably mounted within frame members 96 and is biased to the right by a tension spring 98.

A control shaft collar 100 is also rigidly mounted on the shaft 94 and has a pair of shoulders 102 which straddle a cylindrical pin 104 that is rigidly mounted to the top ofa decelerator lever 106. The lever 106 is pivotally mounted to the frame at 108 and has one end of a plate lever 110 pivotally mounted at its lower end by a shouldered stud 111. The lever 110 is pivotally connected at its opposite end by a shouldered stud 113 to a carriage return plate 112 which in turn is pivotally mounted on hub 79 of the tab plate 76. Plate 112 has an extension 114 that is engageable with a formed ear 116 of tab plate 76 by a spring 117 having one end rigidly anchored and the other end connected to plate 76. The decelerator lever 106 is normally held from a clockwise motion by a spring biased latch 118 which is pivotally mounted to the frame 133 by screw 120 and has a rigidly mounted but adjustable latch abutment 122 assembled thereto providing a block for extension 124 of the pin 104, as shown in FIG. 1. Abutment 122 is adjustable relative to latch [18 by moving the locking screw 123 which extends through elongated slot 127 and in threaded engagement with latch abutment 122. Adjustable screw 121, threaded in latch 118, is moved against abutment extension 129. A spring 125 biases latch 118 counterclockwise to hold abutment 122 in a position to latch pin extension 124 of lever 106 which nonnally holds plate 112 in an ineffective position. (i.e. plate 112 will be in its most counterclockwise position). Having plate 112 in an ineffective position, plate 76 is rotatable clockwise for tabulation deceleration and then may fully return to its ineffective (extreme counterclockwise) position without engaging car 114 of plate 112.

The tab plate 76 is biased counterclockwise by spring 117 and being that the latch 118 is pivoted clockwise by upward movement of a pivot arm 119 upon initiation of the carriage return operation, the carriage return plate 112 is pivoted counter clockwise to a carriage return deceleration effective position, as shown in F IG. 3.

The margin abutment 92 and the control shaft 94 are moved to the right as the decelerator lever 106 pivots clockwise when released by the latch 118. When the margin stop lug 90 contacts the margin abutment 92, the margin control shaft 94 is driven to the left, rotating the decelerator lever 106 counterclockwise about its pivot at 108. This tends to straighten out the connection of the decelerator lever 106 and the lever which accelerates the plate 112 clockwise in a manner similar to the acceleration of plate 76. Because of the engagement between the carriage return plate 112 and the tab plate 76, the governor 10 is rotated to decelerate the carriage.

During the counterclockwise motion of the decelerator lever 106, the extension 124 of pin 104 rides along the edge of latch abutment 122 to pivot the latch 118 until the extension 124 can step behind the latch abutment 122 to relatch the decelerator mechanism in its normal ineffective position.

It should be noted that the resistive force that the governor 10 provides against the carriage during deceleration in either direction is proportional to the speed at which the carriage is traveling and therefore supplies just enough resistive force to properly decelerate the carriage.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiment is therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

Iclaim:

1. A typewriter or the like having a carriage power driven in a letter feed direction and in a return direction, a mechanism for decelerating the carriage in either direction comprising:

a. a first linkage operable by the carriage during a portion of carriage travel in the letter feed direction;

b. a second linkage operable by the carriage during a portion of carriage travel in the return direction;

c. a one way clutch;

d. a speed responsive governor;

e. a drive train connecting said clutch to said governor for rotating said governor;

f. a member connected to and rotatable by said first linkage for engaging said clutch for rotating said clutch in response to movement of said first linkage to rotate said governor for decelerating the carriage; and

g. plate means connected to said second linkage and operable by said second linkage to engage said member for rotating said member in response to movement of said second linkage.

2. A typewriter as defined in claim 1 wherein said member, said plate means and said clutch are rotatable about a common axis.

3. A typewriter as defined in claim 1 further comprising a latch device normally holding said second linkage in an ineffective condition to prevent said plate means from interfering with the rotation of said member during the carriage actuated movement of said first linkage.

4. A typewriter as defined in claim 1 wherein said one way clutch is a spring clutch.

5. A typewriter as defined in claim 1 wherein said plate means is operable from an ineffective position to an effective position, a selectively operable latch device for normally holding said plate means in said ineffective position and a spring connected to said member causing said member to bias said plate means to said effective position upon operating said latch device to release said plate means whereby said second linkage actuated by the carriage decelerates the carriage in the return direction. 

1. A typewriter or the like having a carriage power driven in a letter feed direction and in a return direction, a mechanism for decelerating the carriage in either direction comprising: a. a first linkage operable by the carriage during a portion of carriage travel in the letter feed direction; b. a second linkage operable by the carriage during a portion of carriage travel in the return direction; c. a one way clutch; d. a speed responsive governor; e. a drive train connecting said clutch to said governor for rotating said governor; f. a member connected to and rotatable by said first linkage for engaging said clutch for rotating said clutch in response to movement of said first linkage to rotate said governor for decelerating the carriage; and g. plate means connected to said second linkage and operable by said second linkage to engage said member for rotating said member in response to movement of said second linkage.
 2. A typewriter as defined in claim 1 wherein said member, said plate means and said clutch are rotatable about a common axis.
 3. A typewriter as defined in claim 1 further comprising a latch device normally holding said second linkage in an ineffective condition to prevent said plate means from interfering with the rotation of said member during the carriage actuated movement of said first linkage.
 4. A typewriter as defined in claim 1 wherein said one way clutch is a spring clutch.
 5. A typewriter as defined in claim 1 wherein said plate means is operable from an ineffective position to an effective position, a selectively operable latch device for normally holding said plate means in said ineffective position and a spring connected to said member causing said member to bias said plate means to said effective position upon operating said latch device to release said plate means whereby said second linkage actuated by the carriage decelerates the carriage in the return direction. 